Webb girls’ basketball coach Greg Hernandez. (Photo by Elliot Walker/5Star Preps)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
CLARKSVILLE — Greg Hernandez, the Webb girls’ basketball coach, had one request of his Lady Spartans prior to their Division II-AA state semifinal game Thursday against Christ Presbyterian Academy.
He wanted one more practice with his team.
That meant Webb would have to, obviously, win against CPA — a team Webb had beaten for a state title last season.
And even though Webb trailed by 16 points Thursday in the rematch, Hernandez’s request was granted.
Senior guard Meeyah Green scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds while sophomore post Kyndall Mays added 18 points and 13 rebounds, and Webb rallied past the Lady Lions for a 59-54 win.
Webb shot 48 percent in the second half — compared to 32 percent in the first half — and outscored CPA 21-8 in the final eight minutes to mount the comeback.
“Honestly, just grit. We all trusted in each other. We all believed in each other,” said Green, the reigning Miss Basketball in Division II-AA and a Clemson signee. “We’ve had multiple times (this season) where we’ve gotten down. We’ve been to Atlanta and played hard teams. We’ve been in those positions before. We’ve faced adversity a lot this year with injuries and people being sick.
“But that just got us through today.”
Webb (24-6) will play Lipscomb Academy (26-6) at 11 a.m. Central time Saturday at FM Bank Arena in Clarksville, Tenn., for the Division II-AA crown. A win by Webb would give the Lady Spartans back-to-back championships for the first time since repeating as champions in 2015.
Webb has won seven girls’ basketball state championships, all time.
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Down 32-23 at half Thursday, Webb started the third quarter as if its first-half woes were never a thing.
Green slashed to the basketball for an opening score. And Corisa Lowery and freshman Ivy Napier each made a pair of free throws to cut Webb’s nine-point halftime deficit to just 32-29 by the 6-minute, 46-second mark of the third quarter.
CPA coach Becky Legate called timeout, as her Lady Lions had only turnovers to show in response to Webb’s spurt.
The timeout worked.
CPA pushed their advantage up to 37-29 on a transition layup by Lily Morrow and then three free throws by Charley Rae Hutchison on the ensuing CPA possession. Jayda Robinson’s three-point play with 5:08 left in the third gave CPA an 11-point lead, 40-29.
The Lady Lions led by eight (46-38) heading into the fourth, and that lead shrunk to six in the opening minute of the fourth after Mays scored in the post for Webb, the sophomore taking full advantage of 6-foot-1 CPA forward Jayda Robinson being on the bench with four fouls.
Even still, Hutchison — a 2028 college prospect who transferred from Columbia Academy in the offseason — buried a 3 from the right wing with 5:45 to play to give CPA a 49-42 lead.
But CPA didn’t score for the next 5:06, going 0 for 6 in that span with only one turnover.
That’s when Webb made its final surge.
Green slashed to the goal and scored off an inbounds pass to cut CPA’s lead to 49-46 with 4:54 to play and then Lowery scored on a layup at the midpoint of the fourth to make CPA’s lead just 49-48.
Napier’s steal near half court and subsequent score at the 2:40 mark gave Webb a 50-49 lead. She got fouled on the score and made her free throw to make it 51-49 Webb.
“I don’t think a lot of people outside of this room really know how talented and how special that kid is going to be,” Hernandez said of Napier. “She’s been in this moment the last two years. It’s been up and down all year for her. One game good. One game bad. Up, down, up, down. I looked at her at the half (today). I said, ‘Stay aggressive.’ She had to sit those final minutes (in the first half). I said, ‘Hey, bounce back. Your tank’s full. Give us everything you got.’
“She did. That steal and and-1, just watching her get that emotion. I couldn’t be prouder for her. I’ve known Ivy since she was in the third grade. To see her get this moment and see her succeed was truly special.”
And then after a CPA turnover, Green called her own number and found her way into the lane for a score, pushing Webb’s lead to 53-49.
Webb went 6 of 8 at the foul line in the final minute to secure the win, Green going 4 of 6 and Mays going 2-for-2.
“I felt comfortable the whole time,” Green said.
CPA found its comfort level first inside the new venue for the Division II state tournaments, building a 16-point lead (25-9) by the 5:56 mark of the second quarter.
Webb couldn’t find its form in the first half, struggling to a 32.1-percent shooting clip — including going 0 for 4 from the 3-point line. The Lady Spartans wound up going 0-for-10 from deep.
Mays’ post moves and putback scores from offensive rebounding kept the Lady Spartans close. She scored 10 first-half points and pulled down seven rebounds in the opening 16 minutes. And her second-chance bucket off her own miss with 3:14 left in the half trimmed Webb’s deficit to just nine (26-17).
Avery Green’s putback score with 26 seconds left in the half brought Webb to within six points.
CPA senior forward Lily Morrow, though, hit a 3 to bump the Lady Lions’ lead back to nine heading into the half. CPA went 3-for-8 from the 3-point line in the first half and shot 56.5 percent from the floor during that span.
“I think it was just us getting accustomed to the lights, the floor, the feel and just getting back into that (big game mode). I didn’t think we weren’t locked in or that we weren’t ready,” Hernandez said. “A new environment. A new space. A new feeling. A rematch. Everything like that.
“I never questioned us. I’m just one lucky guy. Because when I look out on the floor, I got these two (Green, Mays) out there — the way they led their teammates and played the entire second half. Yeah, (CPA) got some stuff early, but I felt like we could get flowing offensively and could see the ball going into the rim, that’d we’d be able to lock in defensively. And we did that.”